"No
legislative act contrary to the Constitution can be valid. To deny this
would be to affirm that the deputy (agent) is greater than his
principal; that the servant is above the master; that the
representatives of the people are superior to the people; that men,
acting by virtue of powers may do not only what their powers do not
authorize, but what they forbid. .. A Constitution is,
in fact, and must be regarded by judges as fundamental law. If there
should happen to be a irreconcilable variance between the two, the
Constitution is to be preferred to the statute."
— Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Papers #78

~~~o~~~

"The
basis of our political
systems is the right of the
people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the
Constitution, which at any time exists, ‘till changed by an explicit
and
authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all."
—George Washington (1796)

~~~o~~~

"Like
psychoanalysis, constitutional jurisprudence has become a game without
rules. By defying the plain meaning of words, ignoring context and
history, and using a little ingenuity, you can make the
Constitution mean anything you like." — Joseph Sobran

~~~o~~~

"If
the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is
then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of
self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of
government."
—Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Papers #28

Heritage
Guide to the ConstitutionThe
Heritage Guide to the Constitution is intended to provide a brief and
accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution as envisioned
by the Framers and as applied in contemporary law.Select
any Article or Section from the left side and the Original Text appears
in the main, center, area. Hover your cursor over text in the main
body. Areas with an associated Essay will highlight and, upon a
left-click, that Essay will appear. Essays are also listed on the right
for direct selection.
Teacher's Companion Lessons are also available in PDF format.

The Meaning of The
Constitution
And the Concept of FederalismEdwin
Meese III
The
Constitution of the United States has endured for over two centuries.
It remains the object of reverence for nearly all Americans and an
object of admiration by peoples around the world. William Gladstone was
right in 1878 when he described the U.S. Constitution as "the most
wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose
of man."

BASIC
CONCEPTS OF “GOVERNMENT”Publius HuldahThink NOT that you must have a law degree to
understand the Constitution of the United States; or that the lawyers,
law professors and black robed judges are the ones who understand it
best.They are the ones who perverted it. To
restore constitutional government, We the People must learn the basic
concepts of “government”; and we must learn the Constitution,
elect representatives who will honor their oaths to support it (Art VI,
clause 3), and remove from office those who don’t.

What the Constitution Really Says
About Race and SlaveryDavid Azerrad
The
argument that the Constitution is racist suffers from one fatal flaw:
the concept of race does not exist in the Constitution. Nowhere in the
Constitution – or in the Declaration of Independence, for that matter –
are human beings classified according to race, skin color, or ethnicity
(nor, one should add, sex, religion, or any other of the left’s favored
groupings).

Property Rights and Religious
LibertyLarry P. Arnn
Many
Christians, while they cherish religious liberty, seem to believe that
property rights, and the commerce that arises from the establishment of
property rights, are somehow un-Christian. At the same time, a lot of
free marketers seem to think that all we need are property rights and
the rest will take care of itself. Neither of these views is correct,
and I will explain why with reference to both James Madison and Winston
Churchill.

20mar15

A Little-Noted Masterpiece of
Constitutional Scholarship
by Justice ThomasMark J. FitzgibbonsJustice
Thomas has provided us a masterpiece of constitutional thinking,
explaining why “administrative law” – the practice of delegating to
bureaucrats the making and enforcement of rules with the force of law –
is so profoundly unconstitutional. You could spend years reading
history books, the Federalist Papers, and case law,
but you
won’t find a better explanation of the essence of our
Constitution. If you understand what’s in these few pages,
you
understand why we have the Constitution, why it is structured the way
it is, and why it is essential to the American experiment.

7dec14

Is It Time for an Anti-Federalist
Party?Bruce WalkerNo
wise and serious American, whatever his notional ideology, trusts the
federal government. This fact is often lost in the dust and wind from
that gaggle of pundits whose relevance depends upon every issue of life
being controlled by an all-powerful central government. In American
politics and government, the problem, of course, is Washington, and
most Americans find Washington as arrogant and stupid as American
colonists found London in 1776.

19oct14

Constitutional
Convention? Caveat Emptor –
The Law of Unintended ConsequencesMark Alexander20th-century
sociologist Robert Merton noted three primary factors contributing to
unanticipated consequences: First, incomplete analysis because it is
impossible to anticipate all variables; second, errors in analysis of
what is known about the problem; third, immediate interests overriding
long-term interests.

7jul13

Religion and Public Life in AmericaR.R. RenoReligious
liberty is being redefined in America, or at least many would like it
to be. Our secular establishment wants to reduce the autonomy of
religious institutions and limit the influence of faith in the public
square. The reason is not hard to grasp. In America, “religion” largely
means Christianity, and today our secular culture views orthodox
Christian churches as troublesome, retrograde, and reactionary forces.

14apr13

The Second Amendment as an
Expression of First PrinciplesEdward J. Erler The
shooters in Arizona, Colorado, and Newtown were mentally ill persons
who, by all accounts, should have been incarcerated. Even the Los
Angeles Times admits that "there is a connection between mental illness
and mass murder." But the same progressives who advocate gun control
also oppose the involuntary incarceration of mentally ill people who,
in the case of these mass shootings, posed obvious dangers to society
before they committed their horrendous acts of violence.

7apr13

Christian Origins of Essential
American DoctrinesKelly O'ConnellIn
midst of the modern, mindless battle to drive religion completely from
American life, a small and inconvenient fact has been ignored:
Virtually every important, original American idea is a product of
Christianity. Further, had these doctrines never been developed, the US
would arguably not been nearly as productive, free or happy. These
ideas involve property, liberty, and the rule of law.

2dec12

How to Think About Religious FreedomMatthew J. FranckThere
is a growing awareness among Americans that religious freedom in our
country has come under sustained pressures. In the public square where
freedom of religion meets public policy, it becomes clearer all the
time that there is a high price to be paid for being true to one’s
conscience.

23dec11

The Unity and Beauty of the
Declaration and the ConstitutionAn Interview with Larry P. Arnn, President,
Hillsdale CollegePeter
Robinson: Larry, I am quoting from you: “You can read the Declaration
of Independence and the Constitution in a few minutes. They are simple.
They are beautiful. They can be understood and retained.” Place the
documents in their historical context. Why did they matter?

5dec11

The President’s
Enumerated Powers,
Rulemaking by Executive Agencies & Executive OrdersPublius HuldahNo one in Congress seems to know that it is our Constitution
which sets the “agenda” for the federal government. The
agenda the Constitution sets
restricts the federal government to war, international relations
&
commerce; and domestically, the establishment of an uniform commercial
system: a monetary system based on gold & silver, weights
&
measures, patents & copyrights, a bankruptcy code, and mail
delivery (Art. I, Sec. 8, cls.1-16).

2oct09

RevolutionHerbert E. MeyerDuring the last 30 years we Americans have been so
politically divided that some of us have called this left-right,
liberal-conservative split a "culture war" or even a "second Civil
War." These descriptions are no longer accurate.
The precise, technical word for what is happening in the United States
today is revolution.

8mar09

The America Republic
-vs- Socialist AmericaJ. D. LongstreetThe
difference between Conservative Government and a Socialist Government
(that of the American Left) when shaken down to its raw essentials will
make, or break, the United States of America.

Voters Should Pass a Minimal Civics
TestDoug PattonI have never been an advocate of the popular notion
that "everyone should vote." Some people look at me as if I am somehow
un-American when I say that I am not in favor of encouraging people to
vote who would otherwise never darken the door of a polling place.

2mar08

God and
the State in AmericaTYSKOnly
a willful disregard for the clear meaning of the 1st Amendment would
lead one to believe that God and religion were to be excised from any
and all matters related to the state. Should you doubt this – or wish
to have further proof – consider the Preambles to all of the 50 United
States’ constitutions.

23sep07

Originalism: A PrimerDavid SchraubOriginalism
rose to prominence in the Reagan era because, as Edwin Meese put it in
an uncharacteristic moment of candor, it promised to remake the Court
in a way that would halt the slide toward "the radical egalitarianism
and expansive civil libertarianism of the Warren Court."

13jun05

The Future of
Self-GovernmentKim
WeissmanNine justices on the Supreme Court writing a new
Constitution as they see fit, and then mandating that the entire nation
obey, is a decidedly undemocratic process which results in meanings
that were never adopted or ratified by the people, but which are
imposed upon them without their consent.

5apr05

Judicial Supremacy and The
ConstitutionKim
WeissmanJustice must be about more than just process – to be
respected, a system of justice not only has to do
justice, but has to be seen and believed
by the people to be doing justice.

6dec04

Judicial DespotismKim Weissman
“To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional
questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place
us under the despotism of an oligarchy.” – Thomas Jefferson (1820)

6nov04

The Election Monitoring Circus Leaves
TownPeyton
KnightOur electoral system is a certified thing of beauty. It
places accountability at the local level, thereby empowering citizens
to effectively police themselves and solve any unique problems that
only they can diagnose.

26jul04

How Treaties Trump the ConstitutionHenry
LambNothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal
government to regulate private property. Nothing in the U.S.
Constitution authorizes the federal government to manage wildlife or
prescribe land use regulations within the various states.

3mar04

Almighty JudgesKim
WeissmanAre the decisions of federal judges The Final Answers
to any issue? Would we accept an Executive who could dictate policy
that is final, incontrovertible, and could not be challenged? That
would make the president into a king, would it not?

28jan04

No Constitution RemainsKim
WeissmanViewed in the cold light of the reality that our
Constitution is no longer a barrier to what our government does, why is
anyone surprised that our elections have degenerated into a contest to
see which politician can promise to give us more?

13jan04

Why Not Term Limits?George
M. HaddadIt is conventional wisdom that incumbents are in a
better position to prepare and amass massive mailing lists, develop
political machines, make invaluable political contacts and continue
with year 'round fund raising. In term limit states this has changed
dramatically.

National Death by the PhariseesPaul
E. ScatesThe similarity between the impact of the Pharisees on
established Judaism and the impact our own political Pharisees on
American Founding principles is striking, and informative.

Are
We Too Stupid to Understand?The
Liberty CommitteeApparently members of the US Senate believe that we
are and cannot grasp the challenges to the US Constitution presented by
the "reforms" proposed under the guise of campaign finance reform.

17nov01

G-d And Liberty; Liberals And LiesThe awareness
of G-d as the source of our liberty, in turn, hampers the efforts of
liberals/socialists who need to change the founding documents, in
interpretation and even in fact, in order to implement their big
government agenda.

31jul01

An
Open Letter to Statists Everywhere"If you’re
among those many people who spend most of their time and energies
advocating a litany of proposals for expanded government action, and
little or no time recommending offsetting reductions in state power,
then this letter has indeed found its mark."

18jun01

Our Flaw? We're Just Not LiberalsSuddenly, the
Federalist Society is the talk of the town. But what exactly is this
society? Is it some secret fraternity? Does it — heaven forbid — have
"an agenda"?

20mar01

The Price Of IndolenceAre we
citizens of our States, protected by the Constitution and Bill of
Rights, or have we unknowingly forfeited our original relationship with
government, for a federal citizenship with dubious benefits and
dangerous concessions of our liberty?

13mar01

Are We Citizens Of Our States?The government
recognizes two distinct classes of citizens: a state Citizen and a
federal citizen. State Citizens created the states who created the
federal government who created federal citizens.

9feb01

How Many Bills of Rights do we Need?Everyone from
medical patients to airline passengers is demanding their own bill of
rights. This trend runs contrary to the ideas behind the genuine
article.

4feb01

Wall Of Separation
The radical left's worst nightmare — a religious, moral, and well-armed
population. How could they ever impose their socialist ideology under
those conditions?

25jan01

Constitutional IgnoranceDuring last
week's confirmation hearings, Sen. Kennedy laid into President Bush's
attorney general nominee John Ashcroft about his strong support for the
U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. Kennedy demanded that Ashcroft
apologize to the American people.

Print
and save
this one!

26dec00

Genesis of the Civil WarInteresting,
isn't it, that today, those who favor banning Confederate symbols and
continue to demonize an entire people's history also tend to be
partisans of the federal government in all its present political
struggles?

12dec00

Envy,
Egalitarianism, and EmpireThough the
Founding Fathers were committed to the establishment of a Republic of
self-governing, sovereign States, they feared that the "dissolution
toward empire, which had occurred in Rome, was historically inevitable."

19nov00

How To Subvert FreedomUnearthed
Secret Memo for radical activists who are dedicated to subverting a democratic nation's
freedom.

6nov00

A
review of States Rights and the UnionFamed historian Forrest McDonald concludes that the
states were sovereign during the revolution and remained so under the
Articles of Confederation and even under the Constitution of 1787.

3sep00

Constitutional Protections IgnoredIncreasingly,
we have been ignoring the limits imposed by our Constitution, usually
in the name of some "greater good" or "general welfare". We do so at
our great peril.

27aug00

Liberal IntoleranceNothing so
enrages "diverse" leftists and "tolerant" democrats as someone refusing to bow down to their ideology.

11jul00

Hands Off GovernmentOnce it
becomes clear that government schools indoctrinate captive students in
the tenets and dogma of humanism to the exclusion of all other
religions, it also becomes clear that the government itself is in the
business of establishing a state-run, religious monopoly.

29apr00

New Life for the "One Drop" Rule It is breath-taking to find old ideas
about "blood" now resuscitated in a respectable law review, and by an
African-American scholar. Now the fear, apparently, is that some whites
will try to "pass" as black.

25mar00

Post-Constitution America: Night of the
"Living" DeadStatists,
collectivists and the left need to take heed: when their power and
influence are lost and a truly evil form of government arises, there
will be no document around in any meaningful form to run to as a last
resort.

Who Judges The Judges?We are
becoming the only people in history to voluntarily throw away our
liberty and embrace servitude.

19dec99

The Federal
KingdomIt is
remarkable how willing, even eager, some people in this country are to
abandon representative government, and to adopt dictatorial solutions
to (usually non-existent) problems.

The
Federalists RevisitedPart
I~~O~~Part
IIToday's central
government -- particularly the judiciary branch and the executive
branch under Bill Clinton -- bears little resemblance to those branches
as envisioned by our Founders and the principal authors of our U.S.
Constitution.

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is
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Putting God Back in the Public SquareThe 'Ten Commandment' Judge, Roy S. Moore, on his
seven-year battle to preserve religious freedom of expression in the
courtroom and in the public arena.